How playing Fortnite: Battle Royale will make you a better soccer player

Well, Drake, you’ve done it again.

You’ve taken something that was steadily increasing in popularity and turned it into a cultural phenomenon with a single tweet and a live stream on Twitch.

Fortnite: Battle Royale is an online, competitive shooter comprising of up to 100 players who are air-dropped out of a plane into an environment that is slowly reducing in size. Effectively forcing the players to engage in combat in order to emerge as the sole survivor.

The tweet that broke the internet

Drake attracted over 600,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch (a world record) and in all fairness to the guy, he did pretty well. He was resourceful, tactical and patient.

This got us thinking, maybe Fortnite: Battle Royale could teach us more than it would appear on the surface.

If you think about it, some of the key skills required to be successful in Fortnite: Battle Royale are also applicable to improving as a soccer player.

What Fortnite: Battle Royale can teach you about being a better soccer player

Take advantage of the resources you have available to you

In Fortnite: Battle Royale, it’s absolutely vital that you collect and use all of the resources you can, from weapons to building materials.

Similarly, in soccer, you must utilise the skills of your teammates, the knowledge of your coaches, the time you have to practice and access to soccer and strength training equipment to push your game to the next level.

Nobody who has ever made it to the top in soccer has done it alone, so don’t be afraid to ask for help.

You won’t get anywhere without a tactical plan

Try and landing in Fortnite: Battle Royale without at least a vague idea of your tactical approach and see how far you get. You’ll likely end up at the bottom of a hill missing an arm or two.

Now, try stepping onto a soccer field without an idea of the tactics that will lead to a victory. Whilst won’t be at the bottom of a hill and you’ll still have your arms intact, you probably don’t have the W.

Following on nicely from the previous point on tactics, you must be patient on the field and trust the tactical approach you have in place. Even if it doesn’t appear to be going perfectly well in the first 10 minutes.

Patience is vital in Fortnite: Battle Royale. It takes time to defeat 99 other players, sometimes up to 30 minutes per session. In soccer, you have 90 minutes to beat the other 11 players on a soccer field. So, be patient.

Be switched on from the get-go

The first few minutes after you drop from the Fortnite battle bus are vital, this is when you’re most vulnerable and desperately searching for resources that will give you an early advantage over your opponent.

Similarly, in soccer, you must be switched on and fully aware from the second the whistle blows. In fact, teams that score within 15 minutes of a game will win that game 63% of the time.

Your job is to prevent that first goal, so focus from minute 0.

Don’t become complacent after getting a kill (or a goal)

After earning a kill in Fortnite, it’s advisable that you scan your surroundings before looting your victim of their weaponry and resources as you cannot be sure that another opponent isn’t around the corner waiting to attack.

How does this translate to soccer? We’ve all heard the classic line: “a team is most vulnerable after scoring”. This will ring true with many soccer players who have experienced the high of scoring tainted by conceding a few minutes later.

With this in mind, regroup, keep a cool head, use the momentum and continue doing what you did to get the goal in the first place.

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As a soccer player, you have to do everything you can to improve yourself. A part of this is looking for advantages in places you may not expect. Does this mean playing hours of Fortnite: Battle Royale? No, that’s not what this post is about.

This is about you taking inspiration from other aspects of your life outside of soccer and applying it to your improvement as a player.

You have to be aware that becoming a successful soccer player is the result of what you do in all aspects of your life. It’s not a crime to spend some of your free time playing video games or watching movies, just make sure that you’re aware of the lessons you can take from these seemingly meaningless activities.

There is a caveat, however, and that is that inspiration is useless without action. That means going to practice and out on the playing field and actually applying the lessons you are learning day-to-day.

So, get out there and learn.

See you on the battlefield.

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Thanks for reading!

Do you have any other lessons that you’ve learnt from Fortnite: Battle Royale? Let us know in the comments!